All that bass
A warm and big low end is an inevitable part of modern music, especially if we’re talking about electronic dance music and its numerous genres. To be honest, I can’t even imagine genres like Techno, Drum & Bass or Dubstep without those low frequencies. Having that in mind, we can safely say that processing of low-end sounds like kick and bass became a proper science. Today we have many devices at our disposal for processing of a low end, effects like equalizers, low-end boosters, and many others are frequently used for this purpose. Following this further, I recently discovered a great little plugin named LoAir by Waves.
LoAir by Waves Audio
This low-end processing unit helps in situations when you can not get that desired sub. Not only does it work well with the kick drum or bass, but it also puts more power to instruments like percussion loops or even the electric piano. In the next tutorial, I will guide you thru its interface and capabilities, and also show you some practical examples.
Initially created for sound design and post-production, and strongly embraced by studio and live mix engineers, this subharmonic generator plugin features two adjustable low-frequency processors for shaping your ultra-low end. It is unique because it lets you process polyphonic content that enhances your low end most naturally and musically.
Let’s start!
Let us start by placing a fresh instance of LoAir on a newly made audio channel containing a simple percussion loop and first let’s listen how it sounds unprocessed.
~Percussion loop – Unprocessed
Upon opening the plugin, we can see a rather simple and straightforward interface. At the upper part, we can see a range of knobs, so let’s try to explain all of them in more detail.
- RANGE: Determines the frequency range used to create the LFE content
- LoAIR: Controls the level of the generated a lower octave
- LO: Controls the level of the filtered signal
- DIRECT: Controls the level of the direct unprocessed signal
- LFE OUTPUT: Controls the LFE level output
- ALIGN: Delays the direct signal to synchronize it with the generated signal
Now let us hear now how this percussion loop sounds processed with this great plugin. I recommend you to listen to the samples on the headphones if you don’t have studio monitors.
~Percussion loop – Processed with LoAIR
We can instantly hear how LoAir introduced a lot of sub frequencies to the percussion loop, so the gap on the lower part of the spectrum is nicely filled.
Next, I will apply the LoAir on the kick drum. This kick drum lacks some sub frequencies, and therefore we will add it with the help of LoAir. Let’s first listen to it unprocessed and then processed with LoAir to hear the difference.
~Kick Drum – Unprocessed
~Kick Drum – Processed with LoAir
Download the project here.
